Originally Posted by: martintaylor2002If you start playing guitar in your 40+, what is your probability of playing the guitar like John Mayer? I would say less than 0.1%.
If you start playing guitar at the age of 10, what is your probability of playing the guitar like John Mayer? I would say a lot higher that 0.1%.
Like I've said before, you can be "good" with your ability at 40-plus. You just can't compare yourself to someone who have been playing guitar since teenager and expect to be just as good as that person. That's my point.
I hear what you're saying in terms of the time (or runway) that different age groups have to improve. However, I might've mentioned in my initial post that my ambition is not to equal a pro-player: that would be unlikely no matter what age you started at if playing the guitar wasn't a full-time endeavour. I would, however, hope to be able to play to an objectively good standard and be able to tackle more complex songs.
When I say "objectively" I mean what most people would consider being an intermediate player, rather than just "in my opinion". Part of the joy of learning to play is being able to play for others, I think.
I hope none of this sounds at all snarky because I don't intend it to be. It's difficult to inject tone into the written word. It's just that some people will find it dispiriting that they might never break the "beginner" ceiling because they started later in life.